Chaotic Convention
by beachchick4
Summary: Sydney has gone to a convention for women rangers, supposedly a day free of work. But things at the convention get a little . . . messy. Soon a simple assembly transforms into a battle of life and death. Will Sydney escape alive?
1. Chapter 1

Sydney began to gather her scattered possessions spread across her desk and into her bag. As she was doing so, she heard Walker, Trivette, and the new ranger, Ranger McKee enter the office.

"So I think we've covered all of the basics" Walker smiled and shook the new ranger's hand.

"Oh!" Trivette said, "One more thing. If you're in an undercover operation and need to tell us that something has gone wrong, use the code phrase.

"Code phrase?" Ranger McKee asked.

"It's, 'catch some fish'." Walker answered.

The new ranger was about to say something when Sydney interrupted while chuckling,

"C.D., a retired ranger, came up with that one."

Ranger McKee nodded, deciding it would be better not to ask, and headed up to the fourth floor where is office was stationed with some other rangers. As he walked out, Gage walked in.

"Hey guys." he said cheerfully.

Sydney continued to gather her items, while watching the clock. Gage noticed her hurried movements and asked,

"You going somewhere Shorty?"

Sydney looked up and glared teasingly at him.

"Yes, Francis." she answered, "Remember? That convention thing."

"Oh yah." Gage said and then it got awkwardly silent.

Syd smiled up at him,

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"No, of course not!" he joked.

Syd rolled her eyes and responded,

"It's the Woman Law Enforcement Convention."

"Huh?" Gage asked.

Syd said,

"It's pretty much just a get together for all women involved in law enforcement."

"Oh," Gage said, "okay then. Have fun at your little 'get together' with all of your girlfriends!"

He made sure to say "girlfriends" in a very bad imitation of a high pitched girl voice.

Sydney lightly punched him in the arm as she got up.

"Gee Gage, thanks. Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

"Me, trouble???" Gage asked innocently.

Sydney nodded and said,

"Please, you're hopelessly lost without me."

Sydney picked up her bad and walked out towards Walker and Trivette's desks.

"Bye guys, I'll be back in a few hours."

"Bye Sydney." they both answered.

As she walked out the door she turned around and said to Gage with a teasing tone in her voice,

"Bye Gage."

"Bye Syd." Gage answered, unusually calmly.

But as Sydney walked out the door and down the hallway but was still within hearing distance Gage called out,

"Bye Shorty!"

Syd considered going back into the office to give him a piece of her mind, but realized that she was already running late and continued to her car, where she got in and drove to the convention.


	2. Chapter 2

_Note From Author: Please review!_

Syd pulled into the parking lot at the convention and found there to be a rather small amount of cars there. She walked into the building and found the assembly room packed with only about 50 people or so. Sydney frowned, wishing that more woman were able to get into law enforcement. She sighed as she walked to the check in table.

"Hey y'all, I'm Charlene!" said the overly cheerful attendant at the table, "How can I help y'all now?"

Syd smiled and said,

"I'm just here to check in."

Charlene smiled and continued, "All righty then! What's your name?"

"Ranger Sydney Cooke."

"Well what do ya know!" Charlene exclaimed as she checked off Syd's name and leaned over to talk to the woman sitting next to her.

"Looks like we got ourselves a real Texas Ranger now!"

"Yah, that's me. What do you do?" Sydney asked, trying to be polite even though the woman's accent was really starting to get to her.

"Me? Well, I'm just a regular police officer. We don't have too many rangers at this ol' convention. Oh, by the way, this here's my friend Caitlin."

The woman next to Charlene smiled shyly and said, to Sydney's relief without any hint of an accent,

"Nice to meet you Ranger Cooke."

Syd smiled back and said, "Please, call me Sydney."

Sydney was then pushed aside by the large group of woman who had just entered the room and were waiting to check in. Sydney wandered around the large room and sat down at one of the tables. Syd couldn't help but feel out of place here, she felt tomboyish even around other kick-butt woman.

She didn't mind being a tomboy, she liked it. But it was awkward being around a bunch of girls without a male in sight. Syd always felt more comfortable around men, more relaxed. Kind of like she was around Gage, Walker, Trivette, and C.D. She was okay around Alex, but that's only because she knew her really well. Sydney was glad when some girls came finally came to her table and introduced themselves.

"Hello, I'm Carey." said the first.

She was a tall, red headed, pretty looking woman. Sydney could tell right away that she was a bit of a softie.

The second introduced herself as Elizabeth. She was also pretty, but almost as short as Sydney.

The last one was Megan. She was obviously the toughest of the group. She had short brown hair and was easily the tallest person in the room. Her muscles were huge, and not the type of person you wanted to mess with.

But all of them were very nice and Syd found herself even relaxing a bit. About twenty minutes later their host went up to the platform and told them to take their seats. Sydney was pleased when Caitlin sat at the table, and tried not wince when Charlene sat as well with her over the top accent.

Surprisingly, Syd found herself enjoying the assembly. Suddenly, she was glad she had decided to go. She hadn't bee sure at first, but her gut had told her to go. And so she did. And Sydney was glad she did. She found herself laughing along with the other women, and highly intriuged by the speakers. By far, Sydney decided, the convention was the most fun she had had in ages. Or at least, it started out that way . . .


	3. Chapter 3

Gage sat at his desk looking through some files Walker had given him. They were after a group who was only known as, "The Eliminators". Gage had laughed when he first heard the name, but after just glancing through the files he realized they weren't anybody you wanted to mess with. According to the reports, they were a group who appeared to attack different ethnic groups. They succeeded every time without a shred of evidence to their whereabouts or where they would strike next. And worse, they always left plenty of victims.

"Any luck?" Trivette asked him.

"Not so much," Gage sighed, "the only thing I can pick up is that they seem to attack a group every 15 days, always in the daylight. Besides that, there's not much to go on."

"Wait a minute," Walker, who had just walked into the room, said, "when was there last attack?"

"Let me check," Gage said and flipped through some papers, "oh my God, 15 days ago."

"What are we going to do?" Trivette said, "Where are they headed this time?"

"What are some of the groups they've attacked?" Walker asked.

"Let's see," Trivette said while checking his computer, "a Hindu Temple, an African-American assembly, a Jewish meeting-"

Walker cut him off, "Are most of them large gatherings of minority groups?"

Trivette answered, "No, actually. These guys have also hit common places like a Catholic church."

"That doesn't make any sense what so ever. These guys just randomly attacking different groups!" Gage exclaimed in confusion.

"Maybe not," Walker said while thinking, "what if . . ."

"What if what?" Gage pressed.

"What if," Walker continued, "this group is being hired by different crime bosses to do their dirty work?"

"That, . . . that might just work." Trivette pondered.

"Wait a second," Gage said, "are you saying that criminals are paying these guys money to attack whatever group they hate?"

"I think so." Walker said, this time more confidently.

"So they could be targeting anywhere today?" Trivette said without hope.

"Not necessarily," Walker said, "is there any groups that they haven't hit yet? A group that a criminal might discriminate against."

"The poor?" Gage offered.

Trivette checked his computer and answered, "Nope, they hit a homeless shelter about two months ago."

"Buddhists?" Walker suggested.

"No," Trivette responded, "they got them four months ago."

"Wealthy?" Walker offered.

Trivette raised his eyebrows in doubt, but still checked his computer and said,

"What do you know, they've hit wealthy. That's unexpected. But it also knocks them off the list."

The continued offering different groups for about twenty minutes when suddenly an idea popped into Gage's head.

"How could I be so stupid not to think of something so obvious?!" Gage thought to himself.

"How about women?" Gage asked.

Trivette checked his computer, opening his mouth, expecting to say no, but then closed it again. He pressed a few buttons on his computer then turned around and said,

"We have a winner! They haven't gone anywhere near women groups!"

"Well then, they're bound to go after them sooner or later. Trivette, can you check if there's any larger gathering today of, at least primarily, women?"

Gage's body suddenly became stiff and cold, his breathing quickened and he had to sit on his hands to hide their shakiness from Walker and Trivette. He remembered Sydney telling him,

_"It's pretty much just a get together for all women involved in law enforcement."_

"Oh no." Gage whispered.

"Guys," Gage gulped, "I think I know where they're headed."

"Where?" Trivette asked.

"The Women Law Enforcement Convention, Syd's in trouble."

Walker could see Gage's worry and told him,

"Relax, they may not be heading there. Trivette, are there any other assemblies of women today?"

Trivette answered with a slight crack in his voice, "No. Well, maybe they're not going after women today."

"Gage, call Sydney." Walker commanded.

Gage nodded, trying to keep his cool as he pressed the buttons on his phone

"Relax," he thought to himself, "they might not even be where Syd is. And even if they are, Sydney can take care of herself. Forget that there are nearly no survivors after their attacks, she'll be fine. Or not."

After what seemed like an eternity, Gage heard Syd's phone start to ring.


	4. Chapter 4

For the first hour of the convention Sydney mostly ate and chatted with her new friends. The speaker had come on and off, mostly talking about different forms of women law enforcement. At the moment they were taking a short break, Syd took this as an opportunity to get to know her new pals. They were all very nice, and she found herself particularly liking the quiet Catlin and the tough Megan. Most of the people she met so far were just regular police officers, in fact, she hadn't met any other rangers so far. Syd knew it was tough to become a ranger, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was because they were women.

Just as Sydney was about to ask if any of them had ever considered becoming a ranger, a nice looking woman stepped onto the stage.

"Hello, and welcome again to the Women Law Enforcement Convention. I know for a lot of you this is your first year here and I hope you're enjoying yourselves. Though I do recognize some old faces! Now, I'm not sure if you know this, but this is the tenth annual Women Law Enforcement Convention!"

There was a round of applause and a few cheers before the woman continued,

"I'm happy to report that this year we have quite a few more women attending, with more diverse jobs. The majority of us here, including myself, are police officers. This year we not only have police officers, but also a few F.B.I. agents, some sheriffs, and even a Texas Ranger!!"

There was an applause again, and Sydney felt herself blush ever so slightly. She had noticed how the speaker said "a" texas ranger, as in only one. And she knew who that one was. Herself.

"Now then," the speaker said, "how about we have on representative from each group of law enforcement to tell us what it like."

Sydney felt her stomach tie up into a large knot, there was only one representative from the Texas Ranger's, herself. That meant she would have to go up and speak. She didn't have stage fright, but she would have liked some warning ahead!

"Would someone from each group please come up to the stage? Don't be shy now."

Sydney looked to her friends pleadingly and they smiled encouragingly.

"You'll do fine!" Carey smiled.

"Don't worry 'bout it!" Charlene said, still in an ear piercing accent.

"If it makes you feel any better," Caitlin offered, "I'll go up to."

Sydney was surprised, nice as Caitlin was, she came off as a very shy and quiet woman.

"If you're sure." Syd said, not wanting to put her on the spot.

"It will be fun." Caitlin replied.

So they both got up and headed to the stage where two other women were already standing.

First an F.B.I. agent spoke. Her name was Sarah, she spoke of drug busts every other day, undercover operations weekly, and constant danger. Sydney knew by the gasps and awes of the audience that the F.B.I. agent held the most exciting job. She herself found herself bored every now and then with nothing to do but paperwork.

Next was a police officer named Jen. Her job wasn't nearly as exciting as Sarah's, but still sounded appealing. Sydney still remembered the days when she was considering becoming a police woman herself. That is, until she discovered the Texas Rangers and knew that was what she was meant to do.

Then went up the shy Caitlin.

"Hi everyone," she spoke shyly into the microphone, "my name is Caitlin and I'm a sheriff."

Syd forced herself not to open he mouth in shock. She had never pictured Caitlin to be a sheriff type. True, she had only known her a little over an hour, but she appeared so quiet and shy. She didn't seem to possess the type of assertiveness needed to be a sheriff.

But as Caitlin continued to talk into the mic, she spoke with more confidence. It didn't take long for Syd to realize that Caitlin was a natural born leader. She wondered where Caitlin's quiet side had come from, and how someone so confident could seem so shy.

Sydney was so distracted in her thoughts that she almost forgot her Q to go up the mic. She walked up to where Caitlin had once been standing, took a deep breath, smiled widely, and confidently said,

"Hi, my name is Sydney Cooke, and I'm a Texas Ranger. As you've probably noticed, I'm the only ranger here. Personally, I don't know of any other women rangers in my department. But nether the less, I love my job! I haven't even been a ranger for two years yet, but I've sure learned a lot. We do all sorts of different things, kind of a mixture of what everyone said. I remember my first assignment that lasted nine months; I went undercover with my partner, Ranger Gage, to take down a drug operation. But personally, I prefer just regular old kicking butt."

The audience laughed, Syd silently sighed in relief.

"We do a lot of things regular police officers do, just take down ordinary crimes such as robberies, kidnapping, and drug dealing. I believe that-"

Sydney stopped mid sentence, she squinted her eyes to get a closer look at the main entrance the the could have sworn she saw something, she decided to ignore it and continued,

"I believe that a Ranger's work is never really done. I'm sure a lot of you also feel that you never really take off your badge for the day, even after work hours. A ranger's job is continuous-"

Sydney stopped again, despite the slight whispers of the crowd. This time she was sure she saw or heard something by the door. She was beginning to get a bad feeling, and she always got this same bad feeling right before something bad happened. Usually she ignored her feeling, and that never ended well for her. She had gotten a bad feeling right before the car had exploded in Mexico, she ended up getting kidnapped. She had gotten a bad feeling shortly after she had started her trip to see the White Buffalo skull, she had gotten shot. Something in the back of her mind was telling her to take action, now. But she couldn't very well do so while she was on stage.

Syd cleared her throat and said,

"A ranger's job is continuous. And I-"

This time Sydney wasn't the only one to look to the back of the room. The large door had been swung open and several large men in waiter uniforms entered bringing trays. They slammed the doors behind him and the room erupted into whispers. Their host stepped in front of Syd and said into the mic,

"Excuse me gentlemen, but we don't start our lunch break for another hour. If you could please-"

This time she was interrupted by a louder noise. This time, it was the noise of gunfire. Suddenly there was panic and screaming from within the room. Sydney watched in horror as the men turned around and took out large guns from under their trays. They shot randomly into the crowd as most of the women headed for under the tables. But there were a few women, including Syd, whose training kicked in and reached for their guns. But before Syd could do anything, she watched as her new friend Megan pulled out her gun and aimed it at one of the men, but before she fired the shot another man shot her in the arm, causing her to fall back in pain.

The men locked all the doors of the windowless auditorium as the yells and shots continued to go on. Sydney began to leap from the stage but was stopped when an approaching man aimed his gun at her chest and yelled,

"You and everyone else on that stage stay where you are or you're all dead! Drop your guns!"

Syd reluctantly did as she was told, placing her gun on the ground and backing up to behind the podium. The next ten minutes seemed like a blur to Syd, there were about twenty men in the room and about 70 women or so. It seemed in seconds the majority of the guests were tied to their chairs and the screams quieting down. Somehow, someway, the men were able to get the upper hand and take over the room. A few minutes later, Sydney's blood went cold as one of the men, who appeared the be the leader, walked onto the stage to where she was standing.

He said coldly, with no emotion what so ever,

"Sit down."

Sydney carefully sat down in the chair on the stage, next to where the 4 other women were already seated and beginning to get tied up. As Sydney's hands were tied to the chair behind her back Caitlin asked in barely a whisper,

"Who do you think these guys are?"

Before Syd could answer the leader stepped up and spoke into the microphone with a wicked smile on his face,

"Hello, and welcome to the new, and the last, Women Law Enforcement Convention."

There were a few yells, and a gunshot. The yells ended.

"Now then," the man continued, "I bet you're wondering who we are. Well, you can continue to wonder because you're not going to find out. Let's first make one thing perfectly clear, you are all going to die. Plain and simple, every single one of you. What do we have against you? Nothing. But there are people who do have things against you, and these people pay very very well."

Suddenly, Syd remembered something Walker had mentioned. This new group they were after called "The Eliminators". They eliminated entire groups of people for no reason at all, could these people Walker was talking about?

"But," the leader continued, "we were paid extra well to, before we kill you, teach you some things about women. According to the great man who hired us, women are stupid. And women should not being doing crazy things such law enforcement!"

His men laughed, but Sydney couldn't understand why. The way this man talked, it sounded like whoever had hired him had practically written the speech he was about to give himself. And the more Syd thought about it, the more she realized her probably did.

The leader was about to continue in his speech when suddenly there was a noise throughout the auditorium. It wasn't too loud, but was persistent. It was a ringing sound, coming from Sydney's pocket.

Syd's cell phone was ringing.


	5. Chapter 5

_Note From Author: Please, please, please review!!! I need feedback!!!!_

Syd cautiously looked up, only to find the leader glaring menacingly at her.

"What, is that?" he asked.

"My phone." Sydney answered, trying not to show her fear.

"Oh really," he sneered at her, "and where might it be?"

When Sydney didn't answer he stepped forward and reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone. It continued to ring, and Syd knew it would go to voice mail soon.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" she asked.

"Ha!" the leader said, "Why would I do that?"

"Because," Sydney said trying to come up with a fast lie, "I told someone I'd call them twenty minutes ago, that's probably them. They're paranoid and get really worried if they can't reach me. They might end up coming here."

"You're lying." he accused.

"Fine!" Syd sighed, "You'll see for yourself when the police come marching in here and arrest all of you."

"Who's calling?" he asked warily.

"Oh, I can't say for sure," Syd replied, "it could a friend, one of my parents, my partner . . ."

The leader seemed to be getting nervous and exclaimed,

"Fine! Answer the stupid thing! But if you say anything I don't like, all it takes is the press of a button and you're gone."

Sydney shivered slightly but nodded.

On the very last ring he opened the phone and placed it against her ear.

"Hello?" she said shakily.

"Syd?!" she heard Gage reply, "Oh thank God you answered, are you okay?"

"Of course," she lied, "why wouldn't I be?"

"We thought that this terrorist group would be attacking your convention thing."

"Well there's nothing wrong here." she lied again.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Mmhmm." she answered.

"Thank God, oh by the way, when do you think you'll be back? Any chance you could get out early? We really need some help on this new case."

"Uh, I'm not sure."

"Oh, . . . well okay. See you later then."

"Gage!"

"Yes? You sure you're okay Sydney?"

"Yah, but you tell C.D. to catch some fish for me, okay?"

"Huh? What on Earth are you talking about Syd?"

"You silly, you know what I'm talking about! Make sure you tell C.D. to catch some fish for me!"

"Uh, . . . okay. Seriously confused Sydney."

"You better tell Walker and Trivette too."

"Tell them what?"

"Tell them to catch some fish!"

"Catch some . . . ? Have you lost it Sydney?!"

"Just tell them for me, okay? I know how much they love to fish!"

"What are you talking about? Trivette hates fishing!"

"Thanks Gage!"

"Sydney . . . something tells me you're not okay."

"Listen Gage, I have to go. Be sure to tell them!"

"Syd, if you're in trouble, say 'love'."

"Yah Gage, I don't love fishing either, but we should still be supportive!"

"I'm on my way Syd!"

"Don't forget to tell them to catch some fish! Bye!"

Gage hung up, and so did the leader.

"What the hell was that all about?!!!" he yelled.

"What?" Sydney asked innocently.

"You kept going on about . . . fish!"

"What's wrong with fish" she asked.

He stared at her menacingly for a moment, but her expression did not change. Deciding there was no problem, he let it go and moved back towards the podium.

"Now ladies," he continued, "as I was saying. Women are meant to do only three things: take care of the kids and housework, be an obedient wife, and . . . bring pleasure to the more advanced species. Men."

Sydney bit her tongue to stop herself from yelling at him. How dare he?!!!

"When women try to do a man's job, it will always end badly for them. And this is proof of that. You should have known better, but then again, you're women, you couldn't have known anything!"

This time Syd could not withhold her anger. She mumbled under her breath,

"That's what you think."

She had said it so quietly that she hadn't thought anyone, not even Caitlin who was sitting right next to her, would hear her. But she was wrong.

"Shut up will you!" the leader yelled at her. "You've been causing a lot of unnecessary trouble lady!"

"You're the only one causing trouble here." Syd challenged.

"Listen here lady," he said getting closer to here, "you're going to die one way or another. I could very easily kill you right now."

"But you won't." she stated.

"And why is that?" he growled, now less than an inch from her face.

"Because," she said strongly, "you could gain a lot more from keeping us alive than from killing us."

When he laughed she continued,

"I know that whoever hired you is paying you a lot, but think about. You're over fifty women law enforcement officers."

"So?" the leader scoffed.

"So," Syd said, "rangers will do anything to get their people back. Cops are like family, no man or woman gets left behind. They'll give you your money."

"Whoa there, slow down! Did you just say rangers? As in, Texas Rangers?" the leader gasped.

"Yah . . ." Sydney answered carefully.

"Damn it!" he screamed, "This changes everything!"

Then, talking to his men, he yelled, "He promised no rangers! You heard him! He lied to us! Why I oughta- never mind, I'll deal with him later. Right now we gotta come up with a way out of this mess!"

"What's wrong with rangers?" Sydney asked, hoping to find a weak point.

He looked back at her and glared,

"That ain't none of your business!" he yelled, "Now you better tell me exactly how many rangers are here!"

"Just one." she replied.

He sighed in relief,

"Thank God, maybe this won't be so bad. Who is it?"

Syd stiffened, realizing her life could be in danger.

"Why should I tell you?" she spat at him.

"Because," he threatened, "if you don't I'll kill you."

"So? You're just going to kill whoever the ranger is." Syd accused.

"Ha!" the leader laughed, "Who said anything about killing her?"

Sydney began to sweat, not knowing what would happen to her if she told them who she was. She kept silent.

This angered him, and he went up to Caitlin, grabbed her short hair, and yelled,

"You don't tell me now she's dead!"

Sydney's eyes looked from the leader, to his gun, to Caitlin, not knowing what to do.

"One, two-" he said.

"Fine!" Sydney cried.

"Very good," he said as he let go of Caitlin, "now who is it?"

"You're looking at her." she sighed.

"What?!"

"Ranger Sydney Cooke."

He seemed surprised for a moment, then he smiled.

"Goodbye Ms. Cooke."

Sydney shut her eyes as she saw him raise his gun.

"This is it," she thought, "it's ending right here, right now. Oh God, I knew I shouldn't have told him the truth. There's so much left for me to live for! I can't believe I never told Gage, . . . well, everything! There's so much I still want to do! This can't be the end, it just can't be!"

She felt a single tear fall down her cheek.

"No." she thought, "I will not die weak."

Syd opened her eyes and looked him right in the face as he got ready to shoot her. This was the end . . .


	6. Chapter 6

_Last Chapter: _

_Syd opened her eyes and looked him right in the face as he got ready to shoot her. This was the end . . ._

She held her breath as his finger moved to the trigger, and then . . . her phone rang, again.

This caught him off guard and he forgot that he was about to shoot her. Sydney took this time to stall,

"That's my phone again, if I don't answer then people will come looking for me. Please! Just let me answer it!"

He glared at her, but his voice came out softly as if her was uncertain,

"Fine, make it quick."

Syd was surprised, she had not expected him to give in so quickly. She had been sure that by asking him to let her answer the phone would be the last thing she ever did. He held the phone up to her ear and she said,

"Hello?"

"Sydney Cooke?" said an unknown voice from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, who is this?" she asked.

"This is Brian, don't you remember me?"

Sydney thought for a moment, then gasped.

"Brian! Why the heck are you calling me?!"

"Sydney, I know ya hate me, but listen to me for a second will ya?!"

Sydney frowned, wondering why Brian was calling her. He was her x-boyfriend from about five years ago. Not even a boyfriend. They had only gone out on two dates. The first date hadn't been that great, the second was horrific. He was a drug addict and a criminal. On the second date he hit her when she refused to let him have his way with her.

"Sydney, I know you're a ranger and at some stupid convention thing."

"How do you know that?!" she gasped.

"I know stuff, kay? Get out of there now! Some buddies of mine are planning an ambush there."

"Too late." she muttered.

"Put their leader on." Brian ordered.

Sydney spoke to the leader, "He says he knows you, he wants to talk to you."

He angrily spoke into the phone,

"Who the hell is this?"

There was a pause then the man gasped,

"Brian?!"

Then he moved further away so that Syd couldn't hear what he was saying. She remained in shock. Something was definitely wrong here. Why did the leader let her answer the phone in the first place? Syd guessed that he wasn't a self assured as he appeared. And why on earth did Brian try to warn her? More importantly, had he been spying on her all these years? It had been two dates for crying out loud! A few minutes later the leader returned and growled at her,

"You're lucky little lady. I won't kill you, but only because my buddy seems to be so fond of you. Don't know why though . . ."

He then turned around to face the large crowd of nervous women,

"Okay, forget the little speech. I'm going to end this as soon as my pal gets here. Who cares we were hired to make the speech and kill ya. We've already been paid anyway. Say your goodbyes ladies."

There were a few moments of silence, then the room went into panic. They started out as whispers, then evolved into yells and screams. Some people were sobbing uncontrollably, others were failing in attempting to escape. Next to Sydney, a panicked looking Caitlin whispered,

"Do you really think we're going to die?"

Even though Syd was losing hope, she answered,

"No, we'll get out of this. All of us."

"Who was on the phone?" Caitlin asked.

Sydney replied, "My X from like five years ago, he knows these guys. And it looks like he still wants me."

She shivered when he remembered him. When they had first met, she had liked his strong and mysterious appearance. Their first date hadn't been too bad, just kind of weird because she couldn't shake this bad vibe about him. She had decided to give him one more shot, she said yes when he asked her out for their second date. Sydney thought about it as the chaos in the room continued . . .

_Flashback:_

_Sydney looked in the bathroom mirror and frowned. She was beginning to wish she hadn't worn such a low cut dress. Brian was not the guy for her, that much she was sure of. He was pushy and rude, he always smelled like beer, and she could tell he hung out with the wrong crowd. She sighed, and left the bathroom to return to their table._

_"What took ya so long?" Brian asked._

_"Sorry." Sydney smiled, trying to be polite._

_"Come on, we're out of here." he said as he grabbed Syd's arm._

_"What are you talking about?" Sydney asked, "We haven't finished eating or even paid!"_

_But Brian continued to tug her along out the door and towards his car. Eventually Sydney was sick of it, she pulled her arm back and said firmly,_

_"No Brian."_

_He slowly turned around and said, _

_"What did you just say to me?"_

_"I said," Syd replied, "no. It's bad enough the way you're acting. If you want to go, fine! Go! But I'm going to stay and enjoy dinner and more importantly, pay before I leave."_

_Sydney began to walk back the restaurant when Brian grabbed her arm again. She opened her mouth to protest when he slapped her on the face hardly._

_For a moment Sydney just stood there, mouth open wide in shock. Brian continued to pull her towards the car. It wasn't until Brian had pushed her into the car did she respond._

_"Brian! I've leaving now! Got it?!"_

_But as she moved to open the car door she found it was locked. She turned to unlock the door when she realized Brian was already in the car, and he was blocking the keys._

_"Brian!!" Sydney yelled, "This isn't funny! I swear! If you don't unlock this car right now I'm screaming at the top of my lungs!"_

_Brian acted as if he hadn't heard her and turned on the car. Sydney cursed silently as she realized that she had left her purse, with her cell phone in it, in the restaurant. And so Sydney screamed, screamed like she had never screamed before. But by that time Brian had driven to a poor, crime infested, secluded, area of the city. No one was there to hear her, and even if there were people around, they probably wouldn't care. Brian pulled into his house and began to open the door. As he walked over to the other side and opened Syd's door she roughly kicked him in the face. She silently made a deal with God that she would take some self-defense classes if He would just help her get out of this mess._

_Sydney jumped out the car and ran, ran as fast as she could. But considering she was in heals and a dress, she didn't get far. A few moments later Brian came up behind her and grabbed her._

_"You bitch . . ." he muttered as he dragged her back to his dirty house._

_By the time they were both in the house Syd was in full panic mode. They didn't even get to the bedroom when Brian threw her harshly onto the floor. Sydney tried to crawl away, but was stopped when Brian sat on top of her and punched her several times in the face until she stopped struggling. She watched him as he began to pull of his pants and shirt. Soon he was just in his boxers._

_Sydney screamed again, she refused to give this man what he wanted. He slapped her and then ripped the straps of her dress off. Sydney kicked and struggled, he didn't even seem to notice. He pulled off her dress, revealing her strapless bra and underwear. He leaned in to kiss her harshly when she bit his lip. He pulled back and Syd used the moment to scream again. He punched her and leaned back down again to undue the clasp on her bra. It was then that the front door was busted open by a police officer who had been doing the daily rounds around the neighborhood and had heard Sydney's cry._

_Brian instantly jumped up and ran to the back door. The officer had run after him, but Brian has mysteriously disappeared without a trace. By the time the officer returned to Sydney, she had her dress back on and was wiping her tears as she held back her sobs. She never heard from Brian again . . ._

_End Flashback_

Sydney shivered as she thought of that day. It was shortly after that, that she had taken martial art classes and discovered her talent in fighting. She had always wanted a job in law enforcement, but didn't think she would be tough enough to handle it. After learning how to fight, she was even more sure that she wanted to become a Texas Ranger. And when Syd was determined to do something, she never gave up.

Syd was drawn out of her thoughts by a sudden yell, it was one of the men.

"Hey boss!" he yelled.

Suddenly the whole room fell silent.

"Someones outside." the man continued.

Syd's eyes widened, she had only one question. Was it Gage? Or was it Brian?


	7. Chapter 7

_Author: Sorry this chapter (well, really all the chapters so far) is so short! I'll try to make future one's longer!_

"Who's out there, is it Brian?" the leader asked.

"I don't know." his man replied.

"Well find out!" the leader yelled in annoyance.

The man scrambled out the door and closed it behind him. Sydney held her breath while praying that it was Gage, Walker, and Trivette. However, it was not her lucky day.

The man reappeared a minute later with a man Syd recognized, it was Brian. The leader smiled and walked towards him. They shook hands, and then embraced in a hug.

"Long time no see man!" Brian smiled.

"Yah I know, I've been pretty busy." the leader replied.

'"I can see that John." Brian said as he surveyed the room.

The leader, now being called John, brought Brian over to where Sydney was seated. She looked up at Brian and glared at him. He just smiled and responded,

"Nice to see you Sydney. It's been what? Five years?"

"It's funny," Syd replied, "time can pass but feelings never do fade. Especially not hatred."

"Come on Syd," Brian said, "you know you want me."

"Ha!" she laughed, "Not in this lifetime, not in the next one, not EVER. And also, NEVER call me 'Syd' again. That's reserved for friends only, sorry."

"I'll call you whatever I want," Brian growled, suddenly aggressive, "and if you have a problem with that I really don't care."

"Brian," John interrupted, "we have to take care of some business here. You can get reacquainted later."

"Fine." Brian said to John, though he was still glaring at Sydney.

"How do you want to deal with them?" John asked, gesturing to the crowd of nervous women.

"I thought this was your gig." Brian replied, now glaring at John.

"Well, yah but . . . listen Brian, your girl here's a ranger."

Brian then broke out in laughter.

"You still have that problem with Rangers? Ha! I thought you would have moved on, guess not. But yah, I know what she is. Sure is different from the Sydney Cooke I remember."

"Well if we're going to make it look like she's dead too, I don't want to be responsible for killing a ranger. I was promised that there wouldn't be any Texas Rangers here, you're calling the shots now." John answered.

"Fine with me." Brian smiled. "Now how should we kill them? Fire? A horrible accident? Or perhaps just a classic execution? Yes, let's go with that. Now, who wants to be first?"

"If anyone is going first it's going to be you." came a loud, booming voice out of no where.

John spun around and yelled,

"Who said that?"

Sydney smiled, for she knew who had spoken. It had been a man's voice, it had been Walker. And where Walker was, Gage and Trivette were too. Hope was restored and Syd knew, that things would be okay.


	8. Chapter 8

Gage stood in the deserted hallway nervously waiting for the signal. After he, Walker, and Trivette had arrived at the convention Walker came up with a plan. Walker would try a direct approach with Trivette for backup. If that failed, Gage would sneak in and use a surprise attack. Every bone in Gage's body was urging him to just charge into the room with Walker and save Sydney, but that wasn't part of the plan.

He sighed, frustrated with the plan, but also with himself.

"Cool it Gage," he told himself, "it won't help Syd if you don't control yourself."

He had no idea what was going on, if Syd was hurt, how many people were in there, or what the situation was. The desperation of not knowing anything was driving Gage crazy! He wanted to make sure Syd was okay, and if she wasn't . . . he wanted to change that. After all, Sydney was his partner and his best friend. But that was all. Right?

He heard Walker call from inside the room,

"If anyone is going first it's going to be you."

Gage held his breath, waiting to hear a response. He heard an unknown voice call,

"Who said that?"

"I did. And I am a Texas Ranger, put your hands up and drop your weapons or I'll be forced to take action." Walker replied.

Gage was tempted to walk towards the entrance, but decided against it. He continued down the hallway to his station. As he walked the voices in the room faded out, giving Gage a feeling of uneasiness because once again, he didn't know what was going on. He tried to occupy himself by searching for an easy and unnoticeable entrance to the room. In the building plan that they had looked at an the way there, it had shown that the room had two windows visible from the hallway. When Gage reached them he swore in frustration, the window had been boarded up. And from the looks of it, it hadn't been opened in over twenty years.

That's when Gage heard gunshots coming from the room. Gage began to run down the hallway back to the entrance when he heard shouts from Walker and Trivette. They were in trouble, and that meant Sydney was in trouble too. But then he stopped abruptly and commanded himself,

"Slow down there Gage, running into this unprepared won't help anyone, especially not Syd. Just stick to the plan."

So he then turned around and looked for an alternate entrance. But his despair grew when he realized that every window had been boarded up, when he returned to the door he found it locked. It was then he realized that he needed to find a way in, and fast.

Gage looked at his watch, wondering where the backup they had called for were. Knowing that he couldn't wait any longer, Gage proceeded to circle the room, looking for something he may have missed. As he passed and over sized vent he had a sudden brainstorm.

"I sure hope this works in real life, and not just the movies." Gage prayed.

With that, he began to remove the vent's door. After doing so, he got a flashlight from the building's utility closet. He took a deep breath and began to crawl into the bent. Though he had no idea where the vent would take him, he randomly made turns at the many intersections in the vent.

After about ten minutes he stopped crawling and sighed, he was getting no where fast! Gage then strained his ears to listen for voices, hoping that would lead him to the main room. After a few minutes he heard the slightest echoes, practically whispers. But he decided to give it a shot and started to crawl in that direction. A few minutes later he stopped again. This time not out of annoyance, but out success. He suddenly heard loud voices and saw a light. He had made it the room!

Gage moved slowly and quietly towards the light, he decided not to go all the way but to first go half way and here what was going on and what the situation was. This is what he heard,

"If you let us go now the court will go easier on you." Walker said.

"Ha! We don't need the court to go easier on us because we won't be going to court at all." said an unknown voice.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I was you." Gage heard Trivette say.

"Shut up! Both of you!" yelled the same unknown voice, "I'm in charge here, got it?!"

"What happened to 'you're in charge now'?!" yelled a different unknown voice.

"Listen! I don't care at this point who's in charge, as long as we get out of here asap!" cried unknown voice #1.

"Fine then, I'm in charge!" ordered unknown voice #2.

Surprisingly, unknown voice #1 didn't argue with him.

"So gentlemen," unknown voice #2 said, "who are you?"

"I am Texas Ranger Cordell Walker and this is my partner Texas Ranger James Trivette. This is your last chance to untie us and surrender."

"Surrender?! You must be kidding! You're such a joker Ranger Walker! Unfortunately for you, I'm a very serious man and don't appreciate a comedian as much as some people might." said unknown voice #2.

"Listen Brian," said unknown voice #1, "let's just hurry up and get this over with. You know how I feel about rangers, let's get a move on."

"John!" cried the unknown voice 2, now identified as Brian, "Relax, will ya?! Besides you're going to be dealing with rangers even after this job, remember? The whole reason I'm even here!"

"What?" John asked, oblivious.

"My little lady ranger friend over here." Brian said greedily.

From inside the vent Gage felt his breath quicken. He had to put his hand over his mouth to prevent his breathing from getting to loud. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that Brian's "lady ranger friend" was Sydney. He prayed that it was just a coincidence, that it was some other Texas Ranger. But his hopes were let down when he heard Syd reply to Brian's comment,

"One, I am not your friend or anything close. Two, if you ever call me short again I'm going to kick your butt so hard you'll be in the hospital for weeks."

Though Gage was terrified that this Brian had some connection to Syd, he couldn't help but chuckle at her comment.

"Sydney, are you all right?" Walker asked.

"Fine, Walker." she answered.

"Hold up," Brian said, "you two know each other?"

"Yah, we work together." Sydney replied coldly.

"Well then," Brian said, "that's helpful."

"What?" Syd asked with a slight choke in her voice. Gage could tell that that was not the response she had been expecting from Brian.

Brian didn't answer, but Gage heard his footsteps walk towards Syd's voice. Gage then heard a gun click and Brian said,

"Ranger Walker, Ranger Trivette. You two are going to cooperate with us else your friend here get's it."

Gage's body instantly tensed up, he wanted so badly to reach for his gun and to crawl to the end of the vent and save Syd. But he knew that if he acted so rashly it would only end in disaster. And so he waited, he waited as patiently as his mind would allow him to. He waited for the perfect moment, the moment when he would rescue Sydney. Sydney, his partner, best friend, . . . life, . . . and possibly . . . love.


End file.
